


Bitten

by morrezela



Series: Bitten [1]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Biting, Knotting, Loss of Virginity, M/M, Mpreg, Virginity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-06
Updated: 2013-03-06
Packaged: 2017-12-04 10:53:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/709958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morrezela/pseuds/morrezela
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Abandoned in the forest as a child, Jensen was a human raised by werewolves. Now that they’re both grown, Jared wants to be his mate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bitten

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Features dub-con biting (the sex is fully consensual), slight dominance issues, MPREG, knotting, werewolves, virgin!sex, genetically enforced virginity.
> 
> Written for the spnkink_meme prompt, his got quite a bit longer than I had planned, and I apologize to the OP for going off on a lot of tangents, and maybe losing some of the unique qualities of the prompt along the way.
> 
> I’d done a lot of research into actual wolf packs, and some of what I found (mating occurring between equally matched partners instead of the Alpha/Beta or Omega trope) made it into the story while some of it I happily ignored.
> 
> All mistakes you find are my own.

“Hey,” Jared thinks his beginning is good. It isn’t stellar, but Jensen would be suspicious of stellar. Jensen is smart that way. He doesn’t have a nose to sniff at anything other than the strongest scents, and his ears might not be as sharp as the deafest werewolf in the pack, but he’s scarily good at seeing through you.

“Hey,” Jensen greets him in return before he returns to playing with the two pups at his feet. They curl around him and nip at his fingers with their sharp little teeth. They whine and scuffle, and Jared takes a moment to enjoy the sight. Jensen has always been amazing with the pups no matter what form they’re in.

“You remember when I was that little?” Jared asks, and part of him is feeling nostalgic and really wants to know. The other part is more interested in easing his way into what he wants to talk to Jensen about.

“You,” his friend replies, still innocent of Jared’s motives, “were never this little.”

“Was too.”

“I’m pretty sure not, man. I think you and your brother sprang fully formed from your dad’s head like Athena.”

Jared wrinkles his nose and shoves at Jensen’s shoulder. “Athena still had a mother.”

“Which is totally the point there,” Jensen remarks drily.

“No, you’re right. It isn’t. The point is that I was a remarkably cute and tiny pup once upon a time.”

Jensen snorts, but a smile tugs at the corner of his lips even as a certain sadness enters his eyes. It isn’t an unfamiliar look. Jared has seen it each and every time that anybody in the pack has brought Jensen’s past up.

As much as Jensen professes his love and loyalty to them and their mutual affection back, he is still ‘that human boy the Padalecki’s brought back to the dens.’

His introduction to the pack had been highly unusual no matter how you looked at it. Jensen had stumbled his way into the pack when he was five years old. Tired and dirty, his face streaked with tears, he’d been a miserable looking little boy.

His general filthiness wasn’t a shock. Little boys, whether werewolf or human, always gravitated towards dirt, or so Jared’s mother had always said. What was shocking was the reason why Jensen had been so filthy.

He’d been left on his own in the middle of a forest. At five it was a miracle that he’d lasted a single day let alone the four nights that he seemed to remember spending alone. Jensen doesn’t think that it was his parents who abandoned him – a thought that Jared wholeheartedly disagrees with much to Jensen’s consternation.

They’ve had horrible fights about it: Jensen adamantly defending his parents as saints, and Jared denying it with all his being. It doesn’t matter, not really. The fact is that nobody ever came looking for Jensen, and they’d given up checking missing children reports when Jensen was all of seven.

By then the pack had basically claimed him as one of their own, and Jensen being taken back to the human world was as much a threat to them as having one of their pups snatched to be put on display.

Jensen disagrees with the pack’s logic on that point. Jensen, Jared’s come to realize over the years, remains infuriatingly human about some things even though he’s been pack for over twenty years and has only a foggy, human memory of his early developmental years.

Jared, on the other hand, remembers his first five years quite clearly. Okay, so maybe not the first eight months or so, but after that? Well, he’d been like any other werepup, bounding around on all fours and sticking his nose into anything remotely interesting, bonding with his packmates like a real wolf would bond with its littermates.

Most outstanding of those memories is when he found Jensen.

All of one year old, he’d been in wolf form while his parents took a nature trip away from the den, or small town of Denton as the humans knew it. Young wolves rarely switched into human form. Being able to run and play beat trying to awkwardly crawl or being a helpless little baby. Jared had been intent on sniffing out each and every fern and suspicious looking twig when he caught scent of something funny.

Ignoring his brother’s warning yip, Jared had trundled through the underbrush, his roly-poly little puppy body leaving tufts of soft fur behind. It wasn’t long until he heard miserable sniffling and gasping little hiccups that helped lead him the right direction.

Jensen had been curled up against the trunk of a tree. His green eyes had been rimmed red, body shaking with cold and snot had been dripping out of his raw nose.

It hadn’t been the most attractive of looks, and Jared had been perplexed as to why the older boy had been sitting there in tattered and dirty clothing instead of shifting into his fur for warmth.

He remembers giving an inquiring little whine that caught the boy’s attention.

Jensen’s first word to him was, “Puppy?”

Jared had bounded closer at the hesitant little question, and the next thing he’d known, he’d been swept up in little boy arms as Jensen cried into his fur and petted him.

Jensen still denies it happened that way, but Jared forgives him for his poor, human memory.

“Quit it,” the Jensen of here and now reprimands him.

“Quit what?”

“Going down memory lane,” Jensen answered easily. “I know that look, Jay, and I’ve got my hands full puppy sitting right now. I don’t have room in my lap for your overgrown hide begging for your ears to get scratched.”

Right. Well, it isn’t the best segue into things, but Jared’s willing to work with what he’s got.

“Speaking of ear scratching…”

“Jared, no.”

“You don’t even know what I was going to say.” Jared protests.

“You were going to ask me when I plan on getting bitten.” Jensen responds without looking at him.

Jared purses his lips together and glares out at the copse of trees that he can see from his vantage point. That was the ultimate question, yes, but there were other factors involved, such as, “You can’t mate if you don’t turn.”

“I know.” Jensen’s reply is soft as he continues to watch the pups even though they’ve moved on from dangerous roughhousing to gentle, pack bonding grooming.

Jared huffs a little at the answer. “You’ll never have pups of your own then.”

Jensen barks out a short laugh at that. “Jared, I’m human. I’m not supposed to have pups.”

“You’re pack.” Jared argues back. Jensen being human is just a foreign concept to him. It’s ridiculous to imagine him out in the big, human areas having mateless sex and being independent from his pack. He’s more ingrained in them than half of the born werewolves. He was raised and nurtured on the care of over half the den mothers, having been shared amongst them to be raised.

It had been the Alpha’s orders when Jensen had been brought back to the den. Jensen had been a terrified child that could only remember that his name was “Jensen” unable to state whether it was his first, last or middle name. He knew his birthday and age, but not his parents’ names. He’d cry when asked about them, big wracking sobs that left him practically comatose afterwards.

The doctors called traumatic memory loss, and said it may or may not improve. It didn’t. With the little information that Jensen could provide them, they didn’t find any local missing child reports, so the Alpha had made the decision to bring Jensen into the pack as if he was an orphaned pup.

Jared had cried and whined piteously when Jensen had been sent to nest with another family, but he understands the necessity and wisdom of it now. Jensen was human, and he needed better proximity to bond. He didn’t have their sharp ears to discern the subtleties in different whines and growls, and he didn’t have the ability to mock fight and play like a little wolf did.

It was also dangerous to have him be with just one family incase the rest of the pack became mistrustful of the human in their midst.

He had no family amongst them, and the pack needed ownership of him as their own as much as he needed to understand that he wasn’t autonomous from any of them.

“Being pack doesn’t make me any less human.”

“That’s stupid. Of course it does, you don’t even smell like them. You’re ours.”

“I’m your human.” Jensen corrects him.

“And whose fault is that?”

“Jared…”

“No, I mean it.”

“I like my sanity intact, and I like my heart to keep beating.”

Jared resists the urge to roll his eyes. “It won’t kill you. You’re young and healthy.”

“And my mind? There’s only so much pain that the human psyche can take before it shatters, Jared. And do you really think that I’ll be able to hold on through the change? After everything I’ve been through?”

It’s an old argument. One that Jensen’s been bringing up ever since he became old enough to think about being bitten.

They couldn’t change him when he was younger. The shift between forms isn’t painful to a werewolf despite the massive changes to bone structure and body mass. It tingles more than anything else. It’s little more than a ripple of heat as everything coalesces into a new being.

The changes to genetic structure that a human faces after being bitten though? Those are excruciating. Human nerve endings protest the mass creation of new cells, and the human immune system tries to fight off the bite even as it rewrites the human’s genetic code to accept its new form.

Males especially have a lot of pain as their bodies grow entirely new organs to make them fertile for breeding.

The few doctors that have tried to research the change and what happens are still baffled, but the best conclusion they can draw is that the change evolved to do everything in its power to continue the species.

In ancient times, when the existence of werewolves was fact instead of legend, they were hunted. Humans were trained to fear and loathe the weres as abominations. They were hunted to almost extinction, and changing humans was the only option to continue their lines without inbreeding.

Lore on werewolves is sketchy out in the human world. Made so by the concerted efforts of a dying race trying to preserve itself. Werewolves can change at any time of the year or month. It’s their bite that has to be on the full moon, and it can only be an alpha male that can turn a human with his bite.

The turned are never alphas. Researchers think that it’s another preservation tactic. While the fertile, be they female or male, are hardly submissive dogs that don’t have minds of their own, they’re less likely to retaliate with violence against their pack leader. More likely to stab him to death in the middle of the night when they don’t have to look him in the eyes, but Jared’s never heard anybody but idiots call nature perfect.

And it’s hardly like a turned male couldn’t run off with a female and start their own little pack if they wanted. The guy’s equipment still works the same, and he can successfully mate with a female.

Again it’s about the preservation of the species. The fertile can bear children. Either fertile or alpha males can sire them, and alpha males can turn with a bite. It’s quite impressive really.

Not that Jensen has ever been one to be caught up in the impressiveness of pack building options. He’s always been terrified of the change. Different members of the pack have been asking and begging him to change since he was twelve.

There was a time when Jared was Jensen’s staunchest supporter in the not changing camp, and Jared can see the disappointment in Jensen’s eyes that Jared’s changed his stance.

Jared feels guilty for that because he’s sort of been purposely misleading Jensen on that subject for years.

When Jared was twelve, Jensen was sixteen, and all the pack could talk about was how close Jensen was with the Padalecki family. There was a lot of talk about Jensen mating into the family with ‘that Padalecki boy,’ and they hadn’t meant Jared.

They couldn’t mate until they were eighteen, but sixteen would give Jensen two years to learn himself and learn himself as a wolf. It would give him the opportunity to finally run with the pack on full moons instead of sitting back at the den with the infirm and the young pups. They said that sweet sixteen was a perfect time to change, and Jeff had finally come into his teeth.

Busybody bitches tittered and cooed over how romantic it would be.

Jared had only been able to think of how horrible the whole situation would be. How Jensen wouldn’t scratch him behind his ears the same way. How he’d be a part of Jeff and Jensen instead of just Jensen. How Jared would no longer be Jensen’s favorite, his love for his mate trumping that of his mate’s younger sibling.

It had been a confusing time. Jared hadn’t understood where his possessiveness of Jensen had come from, but he embraced it heartily much to the hurt of his brother and the sadness of his parents. It wasn’t until Jared himself turned sixteen and Jensen came home from college for the summer that he finally realized that he was jealous of Jensen’s affection in a not so platonic way.

He might’ve been a touch slow.

At sixteen though, he’d realized that he wasn’t old enough to even be thinking about who he wanted to take as a mate. Jensen wasn’t that much older, but four years was a lot more important in their teens than it would be in their twenties. It wasn’t the right time to be talking to Jensen about any sort of future for them.

That didn’t keep him from extracting a promise from Jensen of not getting turned when he back to college with Jeff, and it didn’t keep him from helpfully arranging dates for Jeff with all of the prettiest eligible werewolf girls.

Jared was fucking adorable back then. He totally could score chick’s numbers for his brother using the cute little brother routine.

Jared’s family had been perplexed at the sudden about face, but they didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. They were just happy that he’d given up on whatever war he’d had going with his brother.

Jensen had been happy too. All of Jeff’s sudden fortune in the dating circles helped the pack gossip die down about the two of them pairing off together.

“It’s like you all think I’m some sort of disloyal turncoat that’s going to bring the hunting villagers down on you while you’re nesting.” Jensen’s bitter voice interrupted Jared’s thoughts.

“What?” Jared’s shock at the words is clear in his tone. Jensen is pack. Nobody thinks that, not ever.

“Well, what am I supposed to think? It’s bad enough that they all thought I was going to run away when I went off to college, ‘seduced by those human hussies.’ Like I was just waiting my chance to fuck around with girls who weren’t my mate, like being human is somehow wrong and dirty.”

“We don’t think that! Nobody thinks that!”

“No? If you don’t think that, then why does everybody keep wanting me to change? Huh?” Jensen’s tone is defensive and angry, his green eyes snapping with fury. If Jared didn’t know him better, he’d really believe that Jensen doesn’t want to be a were. He would think that their questions and offers of turning are unwanted and resented.

“Because we want you to have a full life with us.”

“I can have a full life without, without…” Jensen trails off and drops his gaze.

If there is one thing that Jensen wants, it’s children. Part of it is not having his own parents and siblings. The pack loves him, and they nurtured him while he grew, but not a one of the members can be called brother or sister, mother or father.

If the pack worried about Jensen doing anything when he went off to college, it was that he was going to run off looking for his human relatives. That would not have been good. Even though Jensen was never claimed as son by any of the couples, there would have been fights over who was going to leave to talk sense into his thick head to bring him home.

“You going to try to tell me you don’t want pups? That you don’t want to mate?”

“Do you?” Jensen shoots back by way of response. He’s deflecting the question onto Jared instead of answering it, and he’s going to be disappointed by the answer.

“I do, actually.” Jared very much wants that. He just can’t until his intended lets himself get bitten.

Jensen freezes at the announcement. “Since when?”

Jared shrugs noncommittally. He doesn’t think that Jensen would be comfortable with the truth.

“Who is she?” Jensen asks softly. He sounds hurt.

“What do you mean?”

Jensen’s face twists into an ugly scowl. “What do you think I mean? You didn’t just wake up and decide that you want to play alpha male one morning. You’re doing it because you’ve got somebody in mind, so who is she?”

“Nobody. Jensen…”

“NO! You don’t get to lie to me about this Jared. You begged me, begged me not to get bitten by one of the pack when I was away at college. Then I came home, and you went off, and you made me promise to call you and let you know if I was going to get bitten. You made me swear that you could be here when it happened, and you can’t even let me know what her goddamned name is?”

“There isn’t any girl.” Jared tries protesting as calmly as possible. Jensen never swears in front of children, and the pups have quit their mock fighting to stare at the adults.

“She put you up to this, didn’t she? She from some other pack that doesn’t think that a human should be involved with you? Is she not breeding with you because you’re too close to the human?” Accusation and pain are in every syllable of Jensen’s words.

Before Jared can even think of how to cool him down and explain, Jensen is scooping a pup up in each arm and stalking away.

It’s a touch overly emotional, especially for Jensen.

The whole conversation could have gone a lot better.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jared can’t bring himself to talk to his parents about Jensen. His own reluctance to share Jensen with the pack has always been mirrored to a lesser degree with the rest of his family. His parents had been ready to forgo another breeding and take Jensen on as their third pup.

As much as they love their daughter-in-law, they didn’t quite get over the dream of Jensen being theirs. They’d wanted it when they’d brought Jensen home with them from the forest, but the Alpha had said denied their request even with their assurances that they would share him with the rest of the pack to encourage bonding.

At the time they’d been sure that the little boy would show up in a search somewhere. The Alpha had been concerned about them forming too strong of an attachment. He hadn’t wanted to risk exposure to the human world should Jensen’s human family come to take their son home and couldn’t because a Momma Werewolf didn’t let anybody take her pups from her – adopted human or no.

By the time that it was clear Jensen wasn’t going anywhere, there was already a routine. He was already established in the pack and taking him for their own would’ve made animosity for the Padalecki’s in the pack.

Jared scuffed the toe of his boot in the dirt and scowled at the pebbles that sprayed away. He couldn’t declare himself to Jensen unless he was turned. Yes, it happened, especially when young alphas went off to college and brought home pretty, young human girls who they’d fallen in love with.

That didn’t make it appropriate. Werewolves belonged to a pack. They didn’t survive without it, and turning somebody for love was a selfish act. You declared yourself to your equal. You didn’t drag some poor human into a pack and a relationship without establishing their right to their form without you.

Jared’s mother had raised him better. It was probably the one reason why Jeff had never made a move on Jensen. Turning first, then mating.

“Jensen is in a particularly foul mood. I’m told it’s thanks to you.”

Jared spins around and tries not to quake as the Alpha approaches him. Alpha’s mouth is smiling, and his gate open. That doesn’t mean that Jared isn’t about to get his tail handed to him. Jensen is a particular favorite of the current Alpha’s family.

Come to think of it, the markings on the pups Jensen had been watching earlier were rather similar to the ones that the Alpha sported on his coat in wolf form.

Jared tries to look serene as he tilts his head in submission, tries not to let his face broadcast how screwed he knows he is.

“Remember, Jared, when you have pups that they will tell their grandparents everything.” His tone is still gentle and amused. 

“Alpha?”

“Jared, Jared. This whole pack underestimates you too much. Just because you’re not as big and burly as your brother or your father, they forget that you’ve got just as much alpha in you as either of them. More maybe.”

“I don’t understand.”

“No? So you haven’t been spending the past few months nesting out your new house for a mate?”

Jared flushes, because he can hardly deny it. He did a fair amount of investing while he was off at college. Any wolf worth his salt will offer a cozy den for his fertile, and Jared had wanted Jensen to have something tailored exactly to his likes.

Because matings tend to happen when both weres are quite young, the parents or the pack often pay for the initial establishment.

With Jensen not turned, Jared couldn’t ask his parents for their support, so he’d scrimped and saved and padded his bank account so that he could in turn embellish his house with touches of comfort for Jensen.

Eventually Jared nods, because he can’t bring himself to vocally admit to the Alpha what he’d been planning.

“Yes, well, that hasn’t gone unnoticed. There’s quite a bit of speculation on who the lucky little wolf is. Public opinion favors one of the tiny, brunettes that you seem to hover around when they’re in season.”

“No!” Jared doesn’t try to hold back the protest. He knows there is talk of his affectionate nature being more than just signs of an empathetic and sociable wolf. There’s been a couple occasions where rivals have insinuated that he was one of those wolves who premated, taking what wasn’t his and remaining untied by virtue of keeping the knotting portion of his dick outside of the mating area.

Alpha smiles more broadly at the denial, “I thought not. It’s a pity that neither the rest of the pack nor your intended can figure that out. Jealousy is an ugly look on Jensen; his eyes can’t afford to get much greener.”

Jared shakes his head in confusion. “What?”

Alpha doesn’t answer him with anything other than a look that tells Jared that he’s doubting the intelligence of this particular member of his pack.

“There are those that would call Jensen ungrateful,” he says instead. “They say that he clings to his humanity because he feels himself superior.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“There are also those,” the Alpha continues, ignoring Jared’s outburst, “that agree with Jensen’s reasoning. Turning is painful and not kind to the human. He has a good life, and even though he handicaps himself from fully interacting with the pack, it is better than what could happen to him.”

“It’s not likely to cause permanent damage.” Jared points out.

“No, but it could. Tell me, Jared. Would you still claim him as your own if he did lose himself during the change? If he became like old Duke, chasing his own tail and barking at shadows?”

Jared doesn’t respond right away to the question. Duke hasn’t been in his human form in years. He wasn’t even an original member of the pack. He’d belonged to a northern pack who had collared him and kept him like a pet when his change went wrong. He either wouldn’t or couldn’t shift, and his reactions were more instinctive than logical.

His old pack had treated him like he was nothing more than a dog. They’d fed him kibble and ignored that there was a still a sentient being inside.

Duke had three chipped teeth from where he’d chewed through his lead to escape.

He still isn’t whole, but he knows he wasn’t an animal. He doesn’t drink dirty water, and he doesn’t try to mate with the actual dogs . He just… isn’t always there. Sometimes he chases butterflies and sometimes he bugs pack members incessantly until they throw sticks for him. Other times he’ll cry and nose at the radio until somebody with hands changes it to a country station, or he’ll tug a book down from a shelf licking and nosing at the pages while he tries to focus his wolf eyes on the writing.

Jared is fond of Duke, but mating with somebody of that mental capacity is just unthinkable.

“Duke is like a child, Alpha. Nobody should mate a were like that. He hasn’t the capacity to agree.”

“I did not ask you if you would mate with him. I asked if you would claim him. Jensen would deserve to be taken care of, don’t you think?”

Put that way, Jared felt vaguely insulted by the question. Of course he would take care of Jensen.

“Think carefully on your answer. You know that taking care of him would mean that you wouldn’t have time for other things. Maybe you would find a mate that could stand having your devotion divided, but what about pups? What about your standing in the pack? You’ve got a good chance at being Alpha yourself one day. You can’t do that if you’ve got a half-wit hanging off you.”

“I can’t be Alpha if I don’t have an alpha mate. Nobody but Jensen will ever bond that closely with me, and I don’t care to try to prove myself wrong.” Jared responds quickly. He’s thought about this. He has no desire to advance himself in the world if it isn’t Jensen who is by his side.

Alpha seems pleased by his words. “And they worry about you. Stupid, the lot of them not realizing the loyalty behind your so called childish devotion. Ah well, you’ll learn as you get older that the pack is a great many things, but smart isn’t always one of them.”

Jared nods, gratified that he seems to have passed his Alpha’s test.

“This does put me in a quandary though. You cannot mate with Jensen unless he turns, and he does not appear to be inclined to take that step.”

“Jensen wants to be a werewolf, Alpha. He isn’t…”

Alpha raises his hand to silence Jared and speaks, “You do not need to defend him to me, young one. I know the man’s heart better than you think I do. His fears get the better of him sometimes just as your recklessness gets the better of you. I would have the two of you mated off for that fact alone. “

“As you pointed out, I can’t mate with him unless he turns.”

“Mmm, and he needs to be bitten to do that. Tell me, Jared. Would you still be loyal to him should he turn and choose not to be your mate?”

The thought sends chills down Jared’s spine, and they settle in a burning fire in his stomach. The possessive nature of his affection for Jensen rebels against the very idea another wolf mating with what is his.

“You know that he could. There are a good number of women both in this pack and amongst our allies who would eagerly breed with him, beta male or no. And I dare say that there are a few males who are hiding their affection for him now that would eager to have him as their alpha mate. He is well loved and very comely. Would you still defend him so staunchly should he not choose you?”

Jared grinds his teeth together at the very idea, but Alpha is not going to let him get by on a pissy look.

“Jensen would still be pack. He would still be my friend. I would defend him like no other, but I can’t say that I would be as close to him. It would hurt to see him belong to another.”

“Good, then you’re just the wolf that I need.”

“I don’t understand.”

Alpha’s grin is unnerving. “Walk with me a while, Jared, and I’ll explain it to you."

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The full moon is fast rising in the sky, and Jared is feeling antsy. He’s worried about what Alpha has asked him to do, and more than half excited by what it might mean for his future.

Biting Jensen isn’t something that he ever really imagined himself doing. In fact, it goes against the instinct the he and his fellow packmates have ingrained in themselves over the years. You don’t bite at humans; you really don’t bite at humans during a full moon; and you triply don’t get your filthy fangs anywhere near Jensen.

That last one is actually a quote from one of his old teachers. They were rambunctious pups at the time, and she’d gotten fed up with their constant questions about why Jensen had to stay behind on their nature outing.

Still it isn’t like he’s doing something that Jensen doesn’t want.

Jensen’s always been on the edge of things, always the cheerleader and never the player to the games that the rest of the young pack got to play. He’s Rudolph the fucking Reindeer minus the purposeful ostracizement by his peers for a physical characteristic.

Now that Jensen’s older and his peers have started to pair off, he doesn’t have much cheering left to do. It’s more settling in for the long haul and being the supportive guy in the corner.

He stays in his tiny little house on Widow’s Lane along with the werewolves who have lost their mates. It’s a place for solitude and mourning. They go there because they don’t have to listen to the happier, still mated weres in the house next door reminding them of what they’ve lost. Even the wolves that stay there say that Jensen is too young to be living out his life next to them.

Jared trots up to Jensen’s door and whines plaintively at it, scratching against the doorframe gently with his claws. It doesn’t take Jensen long to appear. He rarely gets visitors on full moons unless there is something wrong with a member of the few left behind that aren’t healthy enough to go running.

He is adorably rumpled when he answers Jared’s call. His glasses are half shoved onto his face, his grey sleeping tee and pants wrinkled from his twisting and turning in bed.

Jared forgets sometimes that Jensen actually sleeps through the full moon. It’s hard to fathom any werewolf feeling tired when the silver of it is calling, and it’s unthinkable to think of Jensen as anything other than pack.

“Jared?” Jensen’s voice is low and rumbling, but the worry is clearly there.

A part of Jared feels horrible whining at Jensen and not shifting to his human form to explain, but talking will lead to Jensen putting off the turning again. It will lead to him smelling of fear and unhappiness as he denies himself what he wants.

Jensen steps out onto his tiny wooden porch when Jared doesn’t straighten up and turn into his human form.

“Jay, what’s wrong man? Can’t you shift?” Jensen’s all concern as his hands reach down to pet at Jared’s head, stroking his ears and touching his muzzle.

It would be easy to bite Jensen on the hand or the arm, but Jared’s jaws are powerful, and he doesn’t make a habit of chomping down hard enough to break skin. He doesn’t want to break one of the fine bones in Jensen’s hand or wrist simply because he doesn’t know the exactly amount of pressure he needs to use.

Also? Jensen would not be happy with a visible dog bite scar. He spends a lot of time interacting with humans , and he’d definitely get asked.

Of course, the rest of Jensen’s body is covered in clothing, and Jared really doesn’t want to ruin that either. Jensen is very particular about what he wears. He isn’t trendy, and he isn’t a name brand shopper, but he is very finicky about comfort. Things have to fit just right before he’ll part with his money. It’s gotten him called a girl more than once, but Jensen sees it as being frugal. He doesn’t spend all his time trying on clothes because he likes shopping. He does it to ensure that he’s getting his money’s worth.

Jensen would be pissed if Jared put holes in one of his comfy sleeping shirts, and knowing Jared’s luck, it would be one of Jensen’s favorite ones.

Nervously, Jared snuffles at the hem of Jensen’s shirt. First tugging on it gently, then licking at it over and over again.

“My shirt?” Jensen sounds confused, as well he should be. Jared would be confused if this was happening to him.

Jared pulls his head back and yips once encouragingly. Jensen tugs the item off and as he’s leaning over to hand Jared the now balled up piece of clothing, Jared lunges forward and sinks his teeth into the flesh just above Jensen’s left hipbone. No warning growl, no baring of his teeth first, just an unannounced lunge.

He’s careful not to catch the top of the bone when he goes, and he tilts his head so that his bite just nicely catches the side.

Jensen hits him.

Jared lets go with a yelp of pain and paws furiously at his muzzle, trying to rub the sting out.

“What the Fuck! God! MOTHERFUCKING!” Jensen is swearing even as he presses the palm of his hand down over the bite.

Jared can taste remnants of Jensen’s blood in his mouth, and it’s one of the most disgusting things he’s ever had cross his tongue. He tries to spit, but can’t manage it in his wolf form, so he just ends up sort of hacking instead.

“What the HELL was that?” Jensen sounds pissed and terrified.

Jared whimpers and lowers himself down onto his belly trying to make himself look harmless. It might be submissive as all get out, but his alpha pride can take it. He isn’t actually a wolf in a wolf pack. He has a brain, and he’s seen his daddy cower to his mother enough times to know that werewolves are far more human than anything else.

Jensen’s removed his hand from the wound, and although the moon’s made it bright enough out to show the blood marring his hand, it’s the wound itself that draws attention. It’s glowing a silver color, and it isn’t so much a pattern of veins that spreads out from it as an ever widening circle.

“You bit me.” Jensen sounds dumbstruck, and Jared wonders if he isn’t maybe going into shock or something.

Jared just chooses to whimper in response.

“YOU…” Whatever Jensen was going to say is lost as his face loses its color and his eyes slam shut. His body tenses, and his skin goes from normal to heavily perspiring in seconds.

It’s when he starts to shake that Jared gets back up onto his paws. Jensen turns from him and starts to stagger back into the house, but his balance is off. Anxiously, Jared moves to lean his considerable bulk up against Jensen to help him stay upright. Jensen’s hand fists into Jared’s fur, using his grip for stability.

The next few hours are torture for Jared, and he can only imagine that it’s worse for Jensen.

His skin first turns hot then cold. Sometimes he screams, and sometimes he whimpers as his body first tries to fight the bite off and then begins to change.

Jensen pushes him away at first, ignoring Jared’s consoling whimpers and gentle licks. Eventually though, Jensen curls around him for warmth when the worst of the chills start in. He huddles under the blankets on his bed and wraps his arms around Jared and burying his nose in his fur.

The fever is worse. Jensen kicks and whines and rubs at his stomach, pressing the heel of his hand down against it like he can force the hurt right out of his body. When the fever hits its peak is when Jared shifts into his human form so that he can get washcloths and cold water to cool Jensen down. He figures that Jensen is too far gone at that point to object to Jared’s nudity.

Eventually, the worst is over, and Jensen drifts off to sleep. All told the change took barely three hours even though it felt much longer.

Jared gets warmer water and towels and wipes Jensen down before tugging a fresh sleep shirt onto the slumbering body. That Jensen doesn’t wake up during the process is a sign of how worn out the change has made him.

His scent has altered. Even half reeking of pain and human suffering, his new scent is wild and spicy, like the forest is in the fall when the ferns are releasing their spores and the goldenrod and asters bloom. It’s very clean and masculine. Jensen will be pleased that it isn’t flowery.

Jared’s just pleased that his body is enthusiastically shouting “MATE!” now along with his heart and mind. He’d gotten so used to already thinking of Jensen in that manner that to have his physical impulses practically surge with desire and protection is surprising. He honestly didn't think that he could want Jensen more, but he does.

His inner wolf wants to drag Jensen back to his house and ensconce him in the biggest bedroom with the fluffiest pillows and bite at anybody that comes near. He desires to turn into his four legged form and rub noses with Jensen’s wolf. He yearns to coo loving growls in Jensen’s newly sensitive ears and bring him the tastiest steaks that the butcher can offer.

His human half just sort of wants to pound Jensen into the mattress.

Of course, when Jensen kicks him out of the house the next morning, swearing like a sailor and brandishing a butcher knife, Jared’s forced to put those plans on hold for a while.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next few weeks are horrible. Jared’s mother quits speaking to him after Jensen refuses to come to Sunday dinner on account of Jared being there.

Then Jared gets a lecture from his father. And one from his brother. And one from his sister, and that is just plain embarrassing.

Not that Jensen doesn’t make a ruckus himself, flipping over the Alpha onto his back and calling him by his given name in the middle of the toothpaste aisle at the local Target store will do that.

The story gets around pretty quickly about how Jared did the biting with the direct permission and instruction of the Alpha, but that isn’t what stays in the gossip chain. Oh no, not even a fertile male taking down the ruling Alpha stays talk for a long time. Apparently it happened before about fifty years ago. It doesn’t change the ruling structure of the pack, but it does make Jensen one hell of a hot commodity on the singles market.

All of whom are more than willing to take up residence in Jensen’s shadow seems how his best friend is kicked to the curb and quickly losing ground to rank somewhere between loathed enemy and indifferent acquaintance.

It sucks. It sucks very, very badly.

When the full moon comes back around, Jensen finally shifts into his wolf form. He’s been avoiding doing it, and even though Jared knows he isn’t welcome, he follows Jensen’s scent trail so that he can see for himself.

Predictably, Jensen is already surrounded by a group of fawning admirers by the time that Jared finds him. His white coat gleams in the moonlight, but it’s the light tan tips and streaks mixed into the fur that set him apart.

Jensen as a man is astoundingly good looking, and his wolf form mirrors that. One of the bolder females is playing a game of nip and run with Jensen’s coat, and one of the larger males is practically preening in a macho way.

Most of them are younger than Jensen. At twenty-seven, he’s old for a werewolf to not be mated. Not completely ancient, but still – hormones are bitches, and werewolves like to have sex as much as their human counterparts do.

Jared is so jealous he feels his hackles rise even though he won’t go out there and compete. Jensen won’t appreciate such a display. He hasn’t shown any indication of forgiving Jared, and Jared’s been watching for that very closely.

Every time that they see each other in public, Jared looks at Jensen hopefully. He does his best to seem sorry and contrite.

Jensen just ignores him.

Being ignored doesn’t make Jared magically fall out of love with Jensen. It can’t kill the affection that he’s had for the man since they were children. He has to hold on to the hope that Jensen will eventually realize the same thing.

Even though it’s killing Jared that his mate is allowing others to court him, he still wants to be Jensen’s friend. It isn’t that Jared won’t go crazy if Jensen chooses to mate with another - quite the opposite. Jared will end up old and unmated pleasuring himself with thoughts about memories.

He’ll be the resident creepy, old werewolf howling at the moon for his lost love.

He’ll deal with that though, if he can just get Jensen to talk to him again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stubbornness has always been a trait of Jensen’s. It’s one that Jared has never had a reason to hate before, but he’s never been of Jensen’s shit list before either. A few fights here and there, sure, but they’ve never truly been on the outs.

While Jared mopes, Jensen makes fantastic headway with his new status in the pack. He adapts far more quickly to his four paws than anybody would have predicted, his human athletic ability apparently transferring over to his wolf form. Jared personally thinks that this should have been an obvious conclusion as soon as Jensen succeeded in his scuffle with the Alpha, but the pack apparently reserved their judgment for a while before admitting that Jensen wasn’t some weakling.

It’s pathetic how much Jared relies on gossip to keep track of Jensen. He never had to before. He could always easily separate out the fact form the fiction in what was being said because he could always go straight to the source. Nowadays he has to rely on rumor and small talk to help him decipher who is making the best progress in stealing Jensen’s affections.

It’s when he goes to the local coffee shop to find a group of very sad looking mothers on one end and another ecstatic set on the other that he finds out that Jensen’s gone into the male werewolf equivalent of heat. It isn’t mindless rutting or animalistic fervor, but it is a good indication that Jensen’s current preference for a mate is running towards the male side. His body is doing its hormonal best to encourage reproduction, and child bearing fertility means that Jensen’s brain is telling his glands to prepare for a male lover.

Jared’s so jealous that he can barely stand it. He’s seething inside, and a little angry at Jensen for not giving him the chance to redeem himself. It isn’t as if Jensen didn’t want this. They’d had that discussion far too many times for Jared to believe that Jensen wanted to remain human. And Jared knows that what he and the Alpha did was devious, and Jensen has the right to be mad at him for it.

He just thinks that Jensen should give him the chance to express his apologies instead of taking up with some other man and leaving his best friend behind.

Jared doesn’t speak to anybody about it directly; he isn’t so foolish as to think that they’ll tell him the truth anyway. He knows that they talk about him when he isn’t around. Hell, half the shop quit talking when he walked in the door.

The subject about Jensen’s heat is dropped for a good five minutes while the barista makes and hands Jared’s coffee back to him. He goes to a table to enjoy it, and begins reading the book that he brought with him. It takes another ten minutes passing before the gossipers can’t help themselves and go back to the subject of Jensen.

It seems that he’s locked himself away in his house for the duration. As signs go, it’s about all that Jared could have dared hope for. Cloistering away like that is a statement that whoever’s got Jensen’s body all in a tizzy, the man himself isn’t sure about actually mating.

As Jared leaves the shop with the latest news about his intended still ringing in his ears, he doesn’t have any intention of going over to Jensen’s house. His own home though is near to the part of town that Jensen currently lives in. Jensen had always loved the way that the forest curved in on the north side of Denton. He likes the view and the way the sun comes up in the morning.

Jared had checked out all the available properties in the area until he found the best one, then he’d started in on the renovations, intent on giving Jensen whatever he wanted.

In retrospect, it appears that he was being a touch egotistical thinking that he would be what Jensen wanted.

“Jared!” a tiny, warbling voice gasps out, dragging Jared’s eyes away from the pavement and the small tuft of grass that he was kicking with his boot.

It’s Mrs. Belton, one of Jensen’s neighbors. One of the few werewolves to mate more than once, she was still preceded in death by both her husbands. She’s an alpha female, and it’s been said that she just plain nagged her mates to death, then was too stubborn to die herself.

Jensen thinks she’s adorable, and she takes that as an invitation to snoop in his affairs whenever he’s outside his house or the curtains are cracked too far open.

“Mrs. Belton,” Jared says by way of greeting, keeping his tone purposefully bland. He’s been lucky so far that nobody has directly mentioned Jensen to him, but Mrs. Belton wouldn’t have any qualms about first pumping him for information and then chastising him about it.

“Oh, Honey, you have to come quick. That awful Davis boy is hanging around Jensen’s front door, and I think he’s trying to find the key.”

If Jared had been in his wolf form, his hackles would’ve immediately risen at the announcement. He’s not though, so he settles for the very human look of being dumfounded. You just don’t do that. It’s wrong, so very wrong for a prospective mate to go snooping around a were that’s in seclusion due to a heat.

It isn’t that they aren’t in control of their faculties; it’s that their judgment is impaired. They won’t just let you breed them, but they’re more susceptible to sexual advances and mating then they are when they’re not fertile.

“I’d drag his sorry hide off the porch myself, but I’m not what I used to be.” Mrs. Belton is explaining herself like Jared doesn’t know that she’s ninety years old and half blind. If not for the worry he’s feeling for Jensen at the moment, he’d be amused by it.

As it is, Jared tells her to keep going into town to get help before running off towards Jensen’s house.

To his ire, he can easily identify the fact that she wasn’t mistaken. Aaron Davis is indeed stalking out Jensen’s doorway. If the way he’s peering around it is any indication, he’s looking for Jensen’s spare key.

Jared mentally snorts at the idea. Like Jensen would ever be careless enough to hide his spare key near the entrance to his home. They may all be pack, and the crime rate might be very low in town, but they are still an American city prone to visitors and travelers just like any other.

Besides that, Jensen is paranoid about his personal security and safety. It drove Jeff nuts in college. Jared distinctly remembers his brother complaining about how Jensen set curfews and boundaries on his roommate that Jeff’s own mother didn’t enforce.

“Dude,” Jared says as he bounds up Jensen’s front steps. It sounds casual coming out of his mouth even though he feels anything but.

Aaron turns and growls at him. It’s supposed to be a warning. It’s a possessive and defensive.

It’s the completely wrong fucking thing to do.

“Fuck nice then,” Jared mutters to himself before he grabs the back of Aaron’s shirt and throws him down Jensen’s steps.

The other werewolf comes up swinging, and he should at least make Jared wary. Aaron’s a big guy. Shorter than Jared, but stockier and heavy with muscle, he’s fully capable of causing damage. He’s also gone through most of his life being known as one of the most dominant alpha males in Jared’s age group.

“Back off,” Aaron growls as they circle each other. “He doesn’t want you here. He doesn’t want you near him, and you have no right to interfere with my mating.”

“Maybe not, but Jensen does, and your momma obviously never gave you the memo about ‘no’ meaning ‘no.’ I aim to fix that oversight for you.” Jared snarls back easily enough. He can feel his wolf rising up inside, but he ignores it with ease of practice.

Aaron scoffs at Jared’s words, “You? Mr. Congeniality? The clumsiest wolf on four paws? You’d have to trip and fall into me to do anything.”

Jared snarls low in his throat. Aaron apparently chooses not to receive the message.

“What’s a matter, Jay-red? Your little human grow up and decide that he wants to spend his time with real alphas, and you got all jealous? Maybe you thought you had a chance at that sweet little hole? Thought that he’d have your ugly, gangly pups for you?”

They’re just words. Aaron is spouting them to be mean and hurtful, but there is enough truth in them to infuriate Jared even more than he already is.

He launches himself at Aaron, but the shorter man is fast to respond, so Jared barely gets in a glancing blow before he’s getting punched in the shoulder. He hardly feels the pain from the hit though. Now that he’s unleashed his violent side, his wolf is coming to the surface and any pain he’s feeling is melting away with the rage that comes from his wolf side over the crime that Aaron was attempting to commit to his intended mate.

Jared the human is the most sociable and amiable guy on the planet. Jared the wolf is a dominant, possessive fucker. He hides that fact from just about everyone he knows. He doesn’t want pack members to be afraid of him.

Aaron he’ll make an exception for; Aaron he wants to be terrified of him.

He’s dimly aware of a gather crowd of spectators, and he’s mildly irritated that they didn’t go after Aaron themselves. They had to have been nearby, but they were just going to let the worthless alpha male try to break into Jensen’s house, turn their worthless heads away and feign ignorance.

They, Jared thinks meanly, probably figure it would be for the best. Get Jensen mated off to the first piece of asshole that sniffs by so that he isn’t a bother anymore. Make him a good little bitch to some arrogant male instead of the man that he’s always been.

The thought infuriates Jared, and he lunges at Aaron again. The growls he emits as he does so are hard on his human vocal chords, but he’s beyond caring. He wants to shift so that he can sink his teeth into the challenger trying to force himself on his mate, but he won’t sink that low. Aaron doesn’t deserve to have that dignified of a fight.

Aaron snarls back and lands a solid blow to Jared’s stomach. Laughing, he dances backwards and crows.

“Always so uncoordinated. Always following Jensen around like a good little doggy following its human master. Aw, poor Jay-jay. Afraid that he isn’t going to give you tummy rubs and ear scratches now?”

That? Is fucking it.

Jared crouches low before throwing himself at Aaron. His boots slip a bit on the loose gravel that is in the street, but he still gets enough momentum to slam his shoulder into Aaron’s solar plexus. Aaron is big, but Jared is huge, and after that moment, the fight is pretty much a done deal.

Aaron would have to get a breather to have any hope of coming back into the fight, and Jared doesn’t give him the opportunity. He tackles and punches, and though Aaron doesn’t crumble under the assault, he can only get in a weak shot here and there.

The crowd grows louder as more spectators come, and Jared vaguely hears somebody shout his name a couple times before his arms are getting pinned to his sides by another pair of arms wrapping around him from behind.

Focused on getting back to the similarly restrained Aaron, Jared bends forward quickly and throws his new assailant over his shoulder onto the ground. His muscles strain at the weight, and it’s only when he sees his own brother sprawled out on his back, wheezing at having his breath forced out of him by the impact, that Jared freezes and comes back to himself.

There are two police cars nearby, and one of the officers is restraining Aaron. The smaller alpha is being put into handcuffs, and Jared has the sinking feeling that he’s going to have to call his father to come bail him out of the county jail because he’s probably going to be next.

He sure hopes his daddy answers his cell, because he is not calling his parents home. His momma hasn’t been exactly welcoming since he’s been on the outs with Jensen, and Jeff is probably not going to be in a ‘let’s bail the kid brother out’ mood now that Jared’s probably damaged him.

“You okay, son?” The other officer is the one speaking to Jared, and he nods numbly in response.

“Think you can step over here for a moment and let the paramedic check you out?”

Jared stares at the officer uncomprehendingly.

“Jared,” Jeff wheezes as he climbs to his feet, “go over by the ambulance and let them look at your injuries.”

“But I…”

“Son, I know you were about half a step away from going feral on that boy’s hide, but you need to get back in your human skull now, okay?” The policeman sounds amused more than anything, and Jared doesn’t understand why he’s not being read his rights or at least getting a lecture about public disruption and violence.

He doesn’t say anything but nods and shuffles off to the ambulance to have his bruises inspected and his ribs poked. Aaron never landed a blow on his face, which the nice paramedic lady says is a good thing because it would be a crime to mar that perfect of a mug, and all Jared can think is that if she’s calling him pretty, she’d obviously never seen Jensen.

Now that he’s calmed down and isn’t seeking the blood of his enemy, Jared can catch his mate’s odor wafting lightly through the breeze. Most of it is stale and old, left over molecules from places that Jensen’s been in his yard. But there is a trace of it that’s new and fresh, and it’s the most alluring scent Jared’s ever smelled.

It’s warm and spicy, but thickly sweet. It’s what Jensen smells like when he’s fertile, and Jared’s suddenly damned grateful for all of the hits that Aaron managed to land because he’d be sporting wood if he wasn’t in pain. He’s perilously close to that anyway.

“Okay, Mr. Padalecki. You’re good to go, but you should probably take some ibuprofen to keep the swelling down and get rid of some of the pain. You’re also going to want to change the bandages on that cut later.”

Jared blinks down at the paramedic before moving his gaze over to the police officer that had ordered him over to her in the first place.

“Well, good news! Think you feel up to giving your statement? It’s better when it’s fresh.”

“Statement?” Jared doesn’t bother to hide the question in his tone. This doesn’t sound like he’s getting arrested.

“Self-defense and protection of a pack member aren’t offenses, Jare.” Jeff tells him before the officer can ask what Jared’s confusion is about.

“But I…” Shouldn’t there be some sort of investigation into all this before he gets let go?

“We have more than enough witnesses that are saying that he was attempting to illegally enter a secluded wolf’s home, and I’d rather not have you on the books as a man who stopped an attempted breaking and entering that got charged for getting into a defensive fight with a suspect. If it’s a slow news day, the humans might pick up on that, and I don’t need that kind of snooping around the station.”

“Oh.”

“Besides that, Alpha is pretty adamant that he’s going to commend you for stepping up as a good pack citizen, so it’d look bad for them if they did book you.” Jeff tells him with a little smirk.

“But isn’t proper procedure to…”

The officer raises his hand to cut Jared off, “Son, I’ve been in this job for a long time. I know how to file the paperwork right to keep the humans off of my case. Let me worry about my own job.”

Jared doesn’t care to fight the logic in that. It’s not like he wants to spend time in the local jail.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After Jared gives his statement, Jeff takes him out to get plastered, and then leaves him in his big, lonely home to deal with the hangover and his now throbbing injuries by himself. Jared would whine about the treatment, but he’s mostly just interested in licking his wounds in private. It isn’t like nobody heard the taunts that Aaron spat at him.

Even if most people just write the comments off as smack talk in a dirty fight, there are still going to be some in the pack that will start to think about the truth of them. Jared doesn’t want to have to talk about it. It’s sad and pathetic how much he wants Jensen, how long he’s pined and waited for him.

Jared stays put for a few days. He answers a call from his momma because he doesn’t want her to worry, but he ignores everyone else by putting the ringer on his phone to silent and scrolling through his missed calls once a day. So long as the authorities don’t call, Jared has no intention of leaving his house until the next full moon.

Werewolves can communicate quite well while in their wolf form, but deep discussions regarding his epic love for Jensen and its completely unrequited state are beyond the growls, posturing and sniffing that one can do in that form.

He’s on his third day of healing, or moping as his truthful inner self calls it, when he wakes to the smell of bacon, eggs and coffee. There is an off chance that he programmed the coffee maker before he went to bed the previous night, but he doesn’t have anything capable of automatically cooking breakfast.

Aside from that, he’s also not sure that he has bacon in the house.

Slowly he crawls out of his bed and grabs his ratty, old robe to put on over his threadbare tee and blue plaid, flannel pajama bottoms. His slippers are old and have puppy teething marks in them from when he’d babysat his niece, so he shoves his feet into them even though his floors are pristine from a cleaning frenzy he’d gone into the day before. It’s either his brother or his mother out in the kitchen, and he wants them to feel sorry for him and not give him the third degree about Jensen.

He’s hoping the generally down trodden look his outfit gives him will encourage sympathy and discourage nosiness. It’s a long shot, but he’ll take what he can get.

He shuffles out to his doom, faking a yawn as he comes around the corner.

His mouth stays open because it’s Jensen leaning against his kitchen counter staring at a cup of coffee as if it holds the secrets of the universe.

Now that his eyes have told him of Jensen’s presence, Jared can smell him under the bite of the coffee and the savory smells of breakfast. He’s going to go ahead and blame his lousy mood for not noticing that straight away because, Holy Mother of God, Jensen smells fantastic. The heat is gone. He’s no longer fertile, but the residual hormones from it are still clinging to him, making his scent that much more delectable.

“What are you doing here? How did you get in here?” Jared blurts out the words, terrified that he’s going to proposition Jensen if he doesn’t.

Jensen looks up from his coffee and smirks a little. “Good morning to you too, Sunshine.”

Jared just stares at him in response. “Marry me,” is not a good rejoinder.

“To answer your first question, I came to see you. To answer your second, you gave me a key.”

“Why?”

“Damned if I know, but on the bright side, you don’t have to go all alpha on me for illegal entry.”

The blush creeping up onto Jared’s cheeks feels like it’s burning away his skin. He can only imagine what it actually looks like.

“Yeah, well…”

“Jay, chill. It’s good. I mean, not real good given how many phone calls I’ve gotten wanting to know if I can hook you up with a random, eligible girl, but you know.” Jensen ends his sentence with a little shrug.

Jared doesn’t know what that’s about. He isn’t sure he wants to know either, so he revisits his earlier question by asking, “Why did you come to see me?” and prays that the answer isn’t that Jensen’s decided to go into the matchmaking business with Jared as his guinea pig.

It’s Jensen’s turn to flush, and he goes back to staring at his coffee before a noncommittal, “I missed you,” comes out of his mouth.

The admission is heartwarming despite the fact that Jared can tell that it’s not nearly close to being the main reason why Jensen is camping out in his kitchen making breakfast. Still, he’ll take what he can get. He isn’t caffeinated yet. He’s hungry, and eggs taste terrible cold.

“Food,” he grunts as he makes a grabbing gesture in Jensen’s direction.

A plate and a cup of coffee magically appear in front of him as he settles down onto one of the stools lined up against the kitchen island. They eat silently, much like they always have whenever they’ve had breakfast, and it’s just been the two of them. They haven’t needed idle chitchat to get through a meal in years. It’s comforting to know that hasn’t changed.

Eventually the food runs out, and while Jared can postpone the inevitable by slurping on his coffee, his interest is piqued even though his stomach is roiling in fear. Jensen could be here to tell him that he’s found his mate. He might be here to make amends before the wedding.

“So you bit me,” Jensen starts off as soon as Jared pushes his plate away.

“Yeah,” Jared agrees because he’s never denied it. Denying it would be pointless, and he isn’t really sorry he did it. The circumstances weren’t ideal, but ultimately it was what Jensen had wanted. He had just been too scared to actually ask for it.

“And then you followed me around like a puppy, and then you beat the crap out of my creepy stalker.”

Not exactly the way that Jared would have put it but, “Yes.”

Jensen’s smiling now. “Jared, did it ever once occur to you that I could smell the guy out there and had already called the police?”

“No?” Jared squirms as he answers because that is kind of obvious. Jensen was in heat, not mentally incapacitated. His new nose and ears would’ve picked Aaron up fairly quickly.

“And it didn’t strike you as odd that Mrs. Belton was going around on foot instead of say, calling the police herself or going to one of my more able bodied neighbors?”

“Well, I mean, yeah but…”

“But you were too busy worrying about me to think it through?”

“Mrs. Belton is ancient! You can’t expect me to question her motives!”

“You think she’s a snooping old busybody that fakes her impairments so that she can spy on people better.” Jensen reminds him.

“Okay, so I’ve maybe not been using the best of logic lately.”

“Personally, I’d say you’ve been thinking with your dick, but I can’t exactly point fingers. I was the one who basically assaulted the Alpha.” Jensen preens a bit as he says that, and Jared would say something scathing back except that he’s distracted by how pretty Jensen looks when he does that.

“So we’ve both been dickheads?” Jared finally suggests.

“Well, you more than me obviously, but yeah.”

“And you want to be friends again?” Jared asks hopefully. He needs to be close to Jensen. Even if he gets rejected for mating, he wants to be there to protect him from other unwanted suitors until Jensen does have a mate.

“I’ve been thinking. A lot, actually. Got up at four and basically walked all over town before I finally got up the courage to come over here.” Jensen pauses and looks back into his coffee before continuing. “See mating was always just this abstract concept to me, you know? I was raised here, and was raised as one of you, but the only reason that I didn’t fuck around in college was because I was scared shitless of being found out by the pack.”

Jared blinks in surprise. He hadn’t known that. Jensen’s always been so adamant about his dedication to the pack and finding his mate the same as any other werewolf.

“Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t that I wanted to be some mateless whore, but there just didn’t seem to be any reason to not have sex. Most of the people there had already done it. Hell, virginity to the human world is pretty nonexistent except for the really dedicated religious folks.”

Jensen finally brings his eyes up from his coffee cup to look Jared in the eye. “Then I turn, and I can’t even… I’m not even sure how werewolves can have unmated sex. It’s like a biological imperative or something. Jerking off is so weird because I have to imagine that I’m with my mate to even keep hard, not to mention the whole knot thing. It is just jarring to have this new lump on my dick. I keep thinking there’s something wrong with it, not to mention the almost constant urge to stick something up my ass.”

“I…”

“Right, you probably don’t have that problem, huh?” Jensen’s blushing. It’s cute, but would probably be cuter if he hadn’t just been uncharacteristically rambling.

“Kind of had my knot since puberty,” Jared points out. Then because he feels bad about it, his mouth decides to over share with, “But hey, I get to have it grow on me when I mate. So, you know, I’ll have a weird moment too.”

“Right because you’re going to be…” Jensen makes a lewd hand gesture to finish his sentence.

“On top? Pretty much. Not that I’ve got a lot of prospects lined up for the job.”

“Right, tell that to all the girls that have been calling. Or, you know, the ones that have been following you around for years for your sunny disposition, pretty hair, dimples and ‘obviously huge pecker.’ It’s pretty damn obvious that you’re a butch stud who has the ladies in his thrall.” Jensen mumbles almost sullenly.

Jared wouldn’t put it exactly that way. “I’m an alpha male. I don’t think that makes me some sort of Neanderthal.”

“No, no! I just… Look, there’s talk, okay? Since you flipped out on Davis, people are saying that you’re heading for next Alpha.”

Which automatically means that there are several plotting mothers out there who are plotting his joining with their fertile, single offspring. They were bad enough with Jensen, and he was only exhibiting the signs of a very dominant fertile male.

Jensen walks around the island so the he’s standing next to Jared. It makes things weird because with Jared sitting and Jensen standing, Jensen is actually taller. Jared hasn’t looked up at Jensen since he was seventeen.

“I wanted to take this slower, test the waters and make certain that I wasn’t going to ruin our friendship with this. But with all the girls, and you’re whole, you know, thing… ”

Jared quirks his eyebrow inquiringly. He’d like to know where exactly all these girls are, but before he can ask for elaboration, Jensen is leaning forward and kissing him. It’s a gentle kiss, brief and sweet.

“Wow, so from like ignoring me to kissing?” Jared says dumbly.

Jensen punches him in the shoulder even as his face turns violently red. “I was trying to stay mad at you, but you kept coming by and smelling so damn good.” His voice is shaky, but the look in his eyes is determined. It’s Jensen’s stubbornness coming out to play. He’s committed to his actions, and apparently Jared is his current course.

“But, you went into heat.” Jared says dumbly.

“Yeah?” Jensen stretches the word out slowly.

“I wasn’t around!”

“Are you seriously asking me if there’s another man in my life? Jay, I have an imagination. I don’t need to be nearby to fantasize about you. Especially not as I’ve actually already had you naked in my bed holding me. That’s more sense memory than fantasy.”

“You…” Jared trails off not sure of what it is that he wants to say. It’s unfathomable to him that Jensen’s been thinking of him all this time and not one of his other suitors. It’s like some sort of romance film script.

“I would like to know if I have a chance with you, because I can’t think of anybody that I’d rather have father my children. We’ve always been together, and you always gave me your attention even when I was human. Those other wolves, they treated me well, but they didn’t want to spend quality time with me until I was one of them. I don’t want that in a mate. What I want is to be with somebody who loves me regardless of physical trappings. And I want to be in love with him the same way. I do love you, Jared. You’ve never quit being my favorite, not even when I hated you for tricking me.”

It isn’t how Jared ever pictured their moment of declaration going. The few times that he allowed himself to imagine it, he always figured it would have to be his job to start the conversation because Jensen had never been good at being the one to take the risk or initiative.

Still, Jared isn’t the type of alpha male to get his nose bent out of joint by worrying about who got to do the asking.

Without letting another second go by, Jared hauls Jensen in for a kiss. It’s deep, and as dirty as he can make it without having a lot of experience. He’s kissed girls before, but more as an experiment than anything else. He’s always been intent on mating and being a good wolf; he just didn’t think that he should go to his marriage bed without at least knowing a thing or two about foreplay.

“I can take that as a ‘yes’ then?”Jensen asks when Jared releases his lips.

Jared just growls a little and steals another kiss, pushes off the stool, and tilts Jensen’s head up as he rises in an effort keep the kiss going. His tongue slides into Jensen’s mouth more slowly this time, catching his taste as it is flavored by bitter coffee.

Jensen’s eyes are dilated when Jared backs off the second time around.

“I, uh,” Jensen swipes his tongue along his lips before pulling the lower one into his mouth and biting down on it. “Oh, fuck it,” he announces after a second of obvious indecision. Then Jensen’s hand is down between Jared’s legs pressing up gently against Jared’s dick.

“Nnnuh,” Jared’s embarrassed by his incoherence, but he thinks he’s allowed. Jensen is touching his cock. Actually, earnestly touching it because he apparently wants to touch Jared’s dick. It feels so, so good.

“Wow, no false advertising, huh?” Jensen’s comment is a little breathy, and it does unforgiveable things to Jared’s libido.

He wants very badly to fuck Jensen. He wants to bend his best friend over the kitchen counter and knot him and breed him until every wolf within a hundred miles can smell that Jensen’s been claimed by him. That Jensen belongs with him and only him.

“Jensen, man you need to stop that.” Jared tries to gain some control back of the situation even as his hips push his growing erection into Jensen’s hand.

“Actually, I need to keep doing this until you fuck me.” Jensen corrects him with a smirk.

“But, Jensen, I…”

“Jared,” Jensen says as he puts his other hand over Jared’s mouth, effectively silencing him, “I’m four years older than you. I know what I want, and after thinking over your behaviors, I have to come to the conclusion that you want the same thing. That you’ve wanted the same thing for a while now because this house is not built around Jared Padalecki’s preferences.”

“You noticed?” Jared mumbles against Jensen’s fingers. It’s a remarkably stupid comment given that Jensen just admitted to noticing.

“I’m a long time werewolf observer. It’s kind of my thing. Or did you think that I flipped the Alpha over on his back because I was the stronger, more agile wolf?” Jensen’s hand is still massaging Jared’s crotch as he speaks, and it makes it very difficult to come up with a witty response or even to contemplate the number of things that Jensen’s observed about different pack members while he was being the outsider.

“There aren’t going to be any take backs.” Jared reminds him not because of any great desire to do so, but out of duty and a little bit of guilt. He’d been sure of Jensen’s desire to be a werewolf. Jensen’s desire to mate with him is a new confession.

“I get that. It’s sort of implied in the whole mating scenario.” Jensen tells him as he runs his hands up over Jared’s shoulders, resting them there with just a gentle squeeze.

“”But…”

“I want you to fuck me. I want you to get me naked, shove that big cock of yours up my ass, and grind until I’m knotted so hard that I’m seeing stars. I want you to breed me. I want you to crawl all over me and mate me until I’m pregnant with your baby, and then I want you to fuck me some more. Is that clear enough for you?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Jared admits breathlessly. His dick is far beyond interested, pushing at the material of his pajamas, distorting the crisp square lines that make up the plaid.

Jensen makes a grab for his hand, but Jared dodges it, moving to heft his soon-to-be mate over his should instead.

Ignoring the undignified, irritated squeak that comes out of his friend’s mouth, Jared starts moving towards his bedroom. He’s still an alpha male after all. He can’t be letting Jensen do all of the chasing.

“Alpha males,” Jensen complains as soon as he’s tossed unceremoniously down in the middle of Jared’s humongous bed, echoing Jared’s own thoughts, but with a much more derisive tone

Jared ignores his barb in favor of enjoying the sight of Jensen on the bed that Jared ordered for them. It was custom made as were all the coverings for it. Privately Jared has always marveled that anybody bought his excuse of being so big that he was tired of not being able to sprawl out in his bed. In his opinion the bed is very clearly made for the occupancy of two very large males that would be sharing.

“You love me.” Jared replies easily to Jensen’s whine as he crawls onto the bed himself to straddle him.

Jensen smiles fondly at him. “Yeah, I do. Doesn’t mean that I’m not going to complain about your bad habits. It’s my right as your mate. Seen your momma do it a hundred times to your father.”

Jared leans down to kiss him again quickly. “Let’s quit talking about my parents in our bed.”

Jensen seems to agree with the suggestion because he wraps a hand around Jared’s neck to pull him back in for a longer kiss that mirrors the ones they shared in the kitchen. His other hand pushes at the hem of Jared’s shirt, and Jared returns the favor by pushing at the athletic pants that Jensen had worn over.

He’s struck for a moment that Jensen did indeed come over with the intention of actually mating. His preference has always been jeans in public. The sturdier material gives him the illusion of being as strong as and durable as a werewolf.

Athletic pants are a lot easier to get off though.

Jensen whimpers a little when Jared’s fingers tug at the elastic waistband, but his ass lifts up eagerly to allow the material to slip down his legs. He isn’t wearing any underwear, so his cock juts proudly out as soon as the pants come off his hips.

It’s red and the tip is just a little shiny from where precome has started to gather on it. It’s not as big as Jared’s, but it’s a close thing. Proportion wise, he might have the advantage. There are a lot of weres that would have gladly taken it and its newly formed knot to their mating bed and been very satisfied with its proportions.

At least, Jared thinks so. He’s seen a lot of homosexual human porn thanks to his very human roommate in college who insisted that he get an education even though he was, “Foolishly preserving his gay ass virginity.”

Chad was a bit of an asshole, but he had great connections for high quality porn.

It’s embarrassing to admit that he watched so much human sex, but he can’t regret it. The only information Jared has gotten on knotting and actual mating sex are high school sexual education classes. Werewolves don’t make porn. Not because mated couples aren’t kinky enough to film it, they are still mostly human after all, but because it could very easily lead to being hunted. One video where a knot is clearly real and not an airbrushed image or a prosthesis gets leaked on the internet, and you can bring hell down on packs that have lived peacefully with humans for centuries.

“Jared, you need to quit staring at my dick and get naked.” Jensen orders him even as he yanks his own shirt over his head, muffling the sounds coming out of his mouth.

Jared growls a little as he obeys. “I thought I was supposed to be the alpha.”

“Well, I’m older and technically your bitch. So I’m bitching.” Jensen pauses then frowns at him.

“If you ever actually call me that I will hurt you. Though I’m not saying that you can’t put me in my place. Come on big boy, show me why you’re such an alpha that I should give you my neck.” Jensen’s voice turns teasing even though the look in his eyes is still sultry.

He’s clearly enjoying the view, and Jared resists the urge to flex a little and preen. His cock is furiously red and his knot feels funny, like there’s too much pressure in it. It’s reacting to the pheromones that Jensen is putting off.

Reflexively, he reaches down between his legs to squeeze soothingly at the round ball of pressure. He’s lost count of the number of times he’s jerked off in this very bed, one hand stroking up and down his cock, the other wrapped around his knot, pretending that it’s Jensen’s body bearing down on and surrounding it.

Jensen’s eyes follow the motion and a puff of breath comes out of his mouth, followed quickly by his tongue. He spreads his legs a little farther apart and cants his hips up, giving Jared the tiniest hint of a view of Jensen’s bare ass.

Within a second, he’s let go of his own cock in favor of sliding between Jensen’s thighs to steal another kiss. He practically covers Jensen as he lays top on top of him, bracing himself on his forearms so he doesn’t crush his mate, yet pushing their bodies together.

He can feel Jensen’s cock against his lower stomach, the hard line burning bright even against his overheated skin. His own dick isn’t getting much friction as it’s hanging just next to Jensen’s balls. Close enough to feel heat, but not close enough to be satisfying. It’s a height difference thing, but Jared isn’t too worried. They’ll have time to figure out frottage after he’s actually tied his mate.

“Gotta be inside you. Make you mine.” He mumbles against Jensen’s jaw as he kisses his way to his mate’s ear.

Jensen whimpers a little bit and spreads his legs even further apart. It’s a blatant invitation, and Jared is definitely going to take him up on the offer.

But first…

“Give me your neck.” He growls roughly against the older man’s ear. They’re mostly human, Jensen more than any of them, but Jared can’t deny the wolf inside of him. An alpha male’s mate is his equal, even dominates the alpha in certain aspects of pack society, but the fact remains that an alpha is possessive and needs to see certain signs of submissive behavior from his mate.

Jensen shoots him a look, and for the briefest moment, Jared’s worried that he’s going to protest or make Jared work for it. Then that beautiful neck is stretching out, and Jensen’s tilting his head to the side baring his throat for his alpha.

It’s more than embarrassing how excited and aroused Jared’s feral self gets at the act. Acting on instinct, he licks over Jensen’s Adam’s apple and nips a trail down to the side of his neck where it blends into his collar bone. He licks the area once before he bites down hard.

Jensen gasps, but doesn’t pull away even though it has to hurt more than feel good. It’s a visible mark of the change of his relationship with Jared - one that will heal, but also has a good chance of being renewed on occasion. It’s what alpha’s do, and as much time as Jared’s spent carefully not intimidating anybody, his blood runs true.

After sucking and licking the mark to his satisfaction, Jared pulls back a fraction of an inch and inhales his mate’s scent. It’s still wild with unmated pheromones. His body is producing ones designed to lure a mate. It’s not the scent of a taken werewolf. It isn’t the scent of a claimed man who encourages bonding and breeding.

That needs to be rectified as soon as possible.

Jared lunges up just enough to yank open his bedside drawer and grab a tube of lube.

Jensen’s eyes meet his for the briefest of moments before he flips himself over and arches his ass into the air.

The sight is appealing both for the view and the eagerness that Jensen is showing. He’s ready to be mated, hungry for it.

Jared doesn’t say anything, lets the click of the cap being opened speak for him. The pucker gives way easily to the first finger he pushes in as it does for even the second and third. Jensen muffles whimpers into their pillows even though Jared avoids his prostate while stretching him. It’s werewolf physiology at work. A fertile male’s sex hormones make his entrance more pliable than a human male’s because there is a biological need beyond pleasure that it fulfills.

It’s made to take cock and encourage the sometimes recently bitten male to embrace not only the changes in his ability to penetrate and deliver sperm, but to receive and nurture it as well, encouraging the propagation of the species in whatever manner available.

Even stretched, the tiny hole looks small to Jared, and he’s glad that he didn’t try to mate Jensen while he was still human. The thought had crossed his mind a few times back when Jensen kept saying no to the change, and Jared despaired of them ever being capable of true mating.

The pack wouldn’t have agreed, but they still could have done it. Other werewolves had gone to live in human society when their partners refused to be changed, somehow fighting against their instincts that wouldn’t be fulfilled by simple human sex.

It’s something Jared doesn’t want to think about now that he has a bitten and turned Jensen under his hands, whimpering and leaking pheromones like crazy.

Tenderly, Jared tugs his fingers free from the wet hole, and smears more lube over his cock.

“Going to put it in now,” he warns Jensen as he moves into position. It isn’t the sexiest thing he could have said, but Jensen doesn’t seem to mind as he wiggles his ass a little bit and braces himself on the bed.

As he puts his tip against the pucker, Jared pauses to stare at how small it looks compared to the head of his cock. Still, he knows that the mechanics of it are sound, and as soon as he gets inside, he’s going to be running on instinct anyway.

He grabs Jensen’s hips and begins a gentle, but steady push inside. It’s fascinating seeing Jensen’s body take him inside, and he focuses on that so that he doesn’t given in and just slam into his mate’s willing hole. It is Jensen’s first time too, and werewolf body or not, he’s not going to be ready for that.

It’s tempting though, the snug wetness is incredible, made more so by the knowledge that he’s now officially fucking Jensen. In minutes he’ll be forcing his knot inside, and Jensen’s body will recognize him as mate. Their glands will change their hormone levels to accommodate their breeding partner.

For the first time ever, the whole pack will have to acknowledge what Jared’s known since he was a little pup. Jensen belongs to him, and he belongs to Jensen.

“Jared, more,” Jensen whines and shifts back forcing more cock into his channel. He lets out a satisfied grunt when it slips inside faster than the original pace.

The extra slide short circuits Jared’s brain for a moment. Before he can stop himself, he snaps his hips forward and buries himself the rest of the way.

“Uhn, Jay.” Jensen moans unintelligibly.

The squeezing heat feels delicious. It’s awesome and perfect, and Jared would love to just stay sheathed in Jensen forever, but instinct has him moving. Pulling out and thrusting back in shallow motions, Jared tries to change he angle so that he can rub against Jensen’s prostate.

When he finds it, Jensen keens, and that’s it.

Jared fucks his mate roughly for a few strokes before he shoves in as far as he can go and starts to grind. His knot has slid in and out of Jensen’s body fairly easily. It’s no bigger than the flared head of Jared’s dick, so there was nothing in its way.

But it’s a knot, and its basic purpose is to keep his seed inside his mate to ensure better chance at procreation. It’s also entirely necessary to bind them together as mates, and it needs to get bigger to accomplish that. The bigger the knot, the better the breeding.

“Knotting already, Jay? Thought you’d last longer,” Jensen gasps even as his body responds by rubbing his ass in tiny circles, encouraging the act.

“Fucking mine,” Jared tells him in response. He isn’t the most coherent at the moment. The pressure he’d felt in his knot earlier is gone, replaced by a sharp, stinging pleasure as it inflates inside his mate. The bigger it grows, the more that Jensen’s insides grip and squeeze it.

It feels wonderful. It tells him that Jensen is his more than anything else, soothing his near constant possessive streak when it comes to his attractive mate.

They grind against each other for a while, rutting until Jensen’s channel is almost vice like on Jared’s cock, and he’s certain that it can’t get any bigger.

“Alpha,” Jensen acknowledges him with another tilt of his head, maximizing the exposure at the back of his neck.

The wolf inside Jared instantly responds as he shifts to latch onto the offered neck, making a matching bruise to the mark that he put on the front. The movement tugs at his dick, but it doesn’t move inside of Jensen. They’re well and truly stuck together.

It’s that thought that puts Jared over the edge. He moans the start of his orgasm into Jensen’s skin as his cock starts to pulse more than spurt. Waves of come are coming out of him, filling up his mate because there is nowhere else for his seed to run except into Jensen.

“Alpha,” Jensen sounds impatient the second time that he calls Jared by the name, and even through the haze of the longest and most surreal orgasm of his life, Jared realizes that he’s basically neglected Jensen’s cock.

Kissing an apology into his mate’s skin, he reaches around to grasp Jensen’s cock in his hand. It’s hard and twitching. He runs his hand over it a few times pausing to squeeze on Jensen’s much smaller knot to give his mate a taste of what it feels like to be inside.

It doesn’t take long for Jensen to shudder and come, his own seed spurting out like Jared’s used to having happen to him.

As Jensen slumps forward onto the bed, Jared wriggles and turns them on their sides so that he doesn’t crush his mate with his weight.

The orgasm has loosened Jensen up a bit, and Jared can now thrust just a little bit inside of his mate, pushing his knot back and forth even while he keeps putting out more come.

“I’m going to be so filthy when you’re done.” Jensen mumbles, clearly drifting off to sleep even though Jared’s still fucking into him.

“Yeah,” Jared manages to say around his haze of animalistic lust, “you are.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eventually Jared had drifted off to sleep along with his mate, woken up, slipped out of him, and they proceeded to spend the rest of the day in bed trying out hand jobs and blow jobs and all manner of sex that didn’t involve putting anything huge in Jensen’s somewhat sore ass.

It was one of the greatest days that Jared’s ever had.

It is only superseded by the wakeup call that his mate decides to wake him with the next morning. Soft, full lips sucking around the head of his cock? It is far better than any alarm clock that he’s ever had.

“Morning,” he greets his lover.

“Mmm, I’m lonely.” Jensen tells him as he climbs out from under the covers and straddles Jared’s hips.

The room reeks of their mating. Jared can still smell Jensen’s wildness in the pillowcases and the sheets. It’s almost like there was a different person in his bed the day before because Jensen’s smell is so much richer now. Stronger in some ways, but gentler too. Jared would never call it feminine, especially now that he’s had sex and has no desire to ever be cut off from it, but in a way it is. It’s speaking of Jensen’s ability to bear their children, and judging from the qualities in it, Jensen will be quite fertile.

“Quit getting off on my scent, you dickhead.” Jensen scowls at him even as he grinds his pert ass against Jared’s dick.

“You rather I get off on that fine ass?” Jared shoots back.

“I’d rather you’d get off in my fine ass.”

“You sure you’re not too sore?” It isn’t that Jared doesn’t want back in there, but he needs to take care of his mate’s needs first and foremost. He’s a bonded alpha now. He’s got to be responsible.

“I’m four years older than you; I know what too sore is. Besides, if I don’t practice now, how am I going to be ready for when you breed me next time I go into heat?” Jensen accompanies his statement with a little eyebrow wiggle, and it’s just not fair that he already knows Jared’s buttons like that.

“Maybe I won’t,” Jared huffs as he flips Jensen over, reversing their positions so that Jensen is on his back.

Jensen gives him a look that is pure disbelief like he can’t imagine that Jared even tried suggesting that he wouldn’t try breeding him. Jared has to admit that the look has a point.

“Fine, you know I will. You don’t have to be smug about it.” Jared grumbles as he runs his hands over Jensen’s warm skin.

“Not smug, just happy. It’s what I want. You know that.” Jensen tells him as he cups Jared’s now stubbled jaw in one palm. It changes the mood from playful to serious, but the affection remains the same.

Jared tucks his chin so that he can kiss the palm. “I know, and I want that too. Pups, children, you bitching at me for not buying the right kind of coffee…”

“I like how my coffee addiction is lumped in with our offspring.”

Jared smiles and kisses him, sliding his hands under Jensen’s ass and fingering his entrance only to find it already loose and wet. He pulls his mouth away from his mate’s with a curious whine.

“I was bored; you were sleeping.” Jensen shrugs.

The casual admission that his mate fingered himself open makes Jared’s cock grow heavier between his legs. It shouldn’t be such a turn on, but he can see Jensen doing it in his mind’s eye.

With the image stuck on repeat in his imagination, Jared loses a little bit of coherency. One moment he’s fingering Jensen’s hole, the next he’s got himself buried inside that tight heat, Jensen’s legs wrapped around his waist.

“Fuck, Jay. That’s my alpha. Look at all those damn muscles you’ve been hiding. Gonna have to show you off to the rest of the pack. Show them what kind of stud their little human caught, huh?”

Jared buries his head against Jensen’s neck and moans next to the bruise he put there the night before. Who knew that the quiet, polite, shy freckled boy was a dirty talker?

“Come on, harder baby, harder! Yeah, ye… JARED PADALECKI IF YOU KNOT ME BEFORE BREAKFAST I WILL KICK YOUR ASS!”

Jared’s hips freeze mid circle. He honestly doesn’t know whether he’s more worried about the fact that he hadn’t even noticed his hips instinctually moving from thrusting into circling or the fact that Jensen can think about breakfast while they’re having sex.

“Sorry?” He offers meekly.

“Don’t be sorry,” Jensen grunts as he pushes his ass against Jared. “Just don’t let your instincts take over before I’ve had my coffee.”

“Coffee addict,” Jared murmurs as he starts thrusting again.

He’s heard rumor that conversations in the middle of sex are supposed to kill the mood or the momentum, but his cock is still as heavy and hard as ever, so either it’s a recently mated thing or just that he’s already so used to Jensen as a friend that his sex drive can’t take it personally.

It’s sort of endearing to think that he’s already so intimate with his mate that he doesn’t feel dejected that Jensen’s already denied him a knotting.

Then again, he’s still getting a fine piece of ass before he ever gets out of bed where as he’d very recently been sure he was going to die a lonely old wolf. It’s still a winning situation.

Coming isn’t as explosive as it is with his knot, and when Jensen shudders around him, his mate looks more relaxed than seriously blissed out. The product of a gentle morning fuck, Jared guesses.

“Mmm, go shower.” Jensen mumbles as he snuggles into a pillow.

“Are you saying I smell?”

“You reek,” Jensen corrects sleepily, “and you need to make me breakfast. Showering will wake you up so you don’t burn the toast.”

“And you don’t smell?”

“Hmmm,” Jensen ignores him with a wave of his hand.

“I’m only making you breakfast because you made it yesterday.” Jared tells him as he gets off the bed and searches for his robe.

“Don’t worry, baby. I won’t tell anyone my big, bad alpha cooked for me. Wouldn’t want you to lose your reputation as a badass. Though the candy fixation might have to go, if you want to be taken seriously.” Jensen responds without ever opening his eyes or lifting his head off the pillow.

Jared sighs and shakes his head. This is what he gets for mating with his best friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite his best efforts, the shower does wake Jared up and invigorate him. Jensen gets up as soon as he comes back to his bedroom for actual clothes, casting an appreciative glance over Jared’s naked body before scurrying off to the recently vacated bathroom.

Jared knows deep inside that his mate will stay in the shower just long enough to make sure that the pot of coffee finishes brewing, and Jared’s gotten butter on the toast.

He’s watching the first drips of brown liquid fill the pot when a pounding knock starts up on his front door. It’s relentless, and as much as Jared doesn’t want to see anybody today except his mate, he knows that whoever it is isn’t going to stop.

Yanking open the front door, it’s a bit of a shock to see his big brother standing there.

“Jeff?”

Jeff doesn’t answer, simply shoving first his shoulder then the rest of his body into Jared’s entryway.

“Don’t you ever answer your phone?” His brother sounds angry, but Jared can smell the worry rolling off of him.

“I… Jeff, what’s wrong?” Horrible scenarios are running through Jared’s head. Something’s happened to their parents or their sister. An investigative reporter has been taping the younger, less safety conscious wolves as they shift.

“Jensen’s missing! Nobody’s seen him since before he went in seclusion. When nobody saw him after his confinement should have ended, we went to check on him to make sure he was okay. He wasn’t home, Jay. His scent is all over town, but it’s all looped back on itself. Alpha’s worried that he’s taken off to another pack. Between the way he changed and then the thing with Aaron, we think…”

“That I’ve lost my testicles apparently.” Jensen drily says as he saunters in wrapped in nothing but an over sized shirt of Jared’s.

It’s kind of obscene to see his pale, muscular thighs stick out from under the hem. Jared’s glad that he didn’t give into the urge to mouth bruises into them the night before, but his fingers did a good enough job of leaving their marks. The tail of the shirt barely makes it down to cover Jensen’s junk, and it’s a horrifying thought to know that his mate is one stretch away from flashing his older brother - his older brother who happens to be a large, appealing alpha male that the whole pack was trying to encourage Jensen to mate with once upon a time.

Jeff’s eyes don’t miss the scene anymore than Jared’s do, and in a split second, he’s inhaling the air deeply, checking the smells that are underneath the fresh scents of Jared’s efforts in the kitchen.

Jared knows that he’s going to smell the changes in both his little brother and his brother’s new mate, but it’s the fact that Jeff is also going to smell their actual mating that has him growling low in his throat. That isn’t anybody’s business, especially not a former rival’s.

“Jared, chill.” Jensen’s hand is warm on his arm, but it doesn’t make Jared’s muscles relax.

The breath that Jeff took in expels itself in a rush. He rubs at his nose viciously even as his eyes widen in shock.

“What the Hell, Jay?” He asks.

Jared wants to rip his throat out for the question. He isn’t sure what his brother means by it; he isn’t even sure that Jeff knows what he means by it. But Jared is confused and territorial, and his hormones are raging at him to drive the intruder from his nest, to not allow him to smell the evidence of his mate’s pleasure or see his mate in such a vulnerable state.

“Okay, you both need to chill right now! Or do I need to call your mother?” Jensen’s voice snaps with fury, and it’s only then that Jared realizes that Jeff’s shoulders are hunched and tense, responding to Jared’s not so subtle body language.

“He’s not a challenger. He never has been, but he is your brother and my packmate, so I’m going to tell you not to pick a fight with him in my home.” Jensen orders him, asserting his own newfound dominance of their living space.

“Jensen?” The way that Jeff says it makes it clear that he isn’t actually addressing the other were. He’s questioning Jared’s mating choice.

It infuriates Jared all over again, but he holds himself still because of his mate’s request. “Yes. Jensen.”

“But, but you… What about all those girls? You’ve got half a dozen hearts pining after you, and you knotted with him? You didn’t need to settle. Neither of you did. I…”

Jared ignores Jensen’s restraining hand and pushes his way into Jeff’s personal space, tilting his head up to meet the slightly taller man’s eyes.

“Let me make something very clear. Jensen is mine. He has always been mine. This is only a confirmation of what I’ve known since I was sixteen. He’s my mate, and if he’d never turned, I’d have dragged him off to some human town and forced myself past my mating urges to provide him with his sexual needs. You understand me?”

“But you…”

“I didn’t feel like having the whole pack in my business. It’s not my fault they had me paired off with some girl.”

“I think you’re both missing the point that whatever you thought, felt or supposed doesn’t change the fact that I’m Jared’s mate now, and he’s mine. That isn’t going to go away or disappear, and we’re both more than old enough to mate. Last I checked, I’m pretty damn ancient to be starting. There isn’t any need for big brothering or protective posturing.” Jensen interrupts their brewing fight with calm words and ends his interruption with a rather noisy slurp of coffee.

Jared’s wolf could’ve gone for a good fight. He kind of hates Jensen’s calm demeanor about the whole thing.

“Door’s that way, Jeff. I’d be hospitable, but I’m going to be naked soon so…”

Jeff dashes out the door without a second glance, and Jared’s left feeling wholly unsatisfied.

“He questioned my love for you.” He says as soon as he turns to fully look at Jensen.

“He was confused by your sudden gay love for me because you spent so much time hiding it. I wouldn’t have known you felt that way if you hadn’t beaten the crap out of Aaron Davis. And you know that I’ve always loved you best, so you have nothing to worry about.”

Jared could stay mad, but that sounds like it will interrupt the orgasms that Jensen’s body is promising with its scant covering and alluring pheromones.

The master bedroom bed is filthy. They’ll have to change the sheets before they can do anything on it, but Jared’s got a spare bedroom that needs christening as well.

Forgiving Jeff’s question is more a matter of practicality than anything else.

“You always loved me best because I was a damned cute puppy.” He tells Jensen as he advances on his lover, snagging the cup out of his hands and taking a sip before placing it down on the counter.

“Yeah, yeah you were. Now how about we go about making some pups of our own?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Epilogue:

Jared enjoys his mate’s warm weight as he settles down next to him on the couch. He smells of home and contentment, his scent smoky and sweetly innocent.

Jensen’s stomach is thicker than it used to be, the muscles slightly less defined. It isn’t noticeable to anyone that doesn’t know to look, but Jared does know. He’s one half of the reason for that change. That’s his baby growing inside his mate, all warm and cared for.

“I miss coffee.” Jensen mumbles sleepily.

“You still drink coffee.”

“Decaf is not coffee, and the restrictions on the real stuff is inhuman.”

“Good thing you aren’t human then.” Jared replies teasingly. Jensen’s complaint about his caffeine restrictions because of the pregnancy is nothing new, and his mate doesn’t expect him to take it seriously.

“Yeah. Hey, you ever feel bad for lesbian werewolves?”

That one is new. “What?”

“They can’t knot, so they can’t mate. It’s gotta be awful.”

Jensen has a point. Most lesbian werewolves end up leaving their packs and living in the human world. It isn’t that they want to be away or are ridiculed, but the inability to mate makes them uncomfortable as all their counterparts settle down. They’re truly screwed over by genetics. With urges built specifically to ensure survival, they can’t ever satisfy both their mating urges and their sexual preference.

Still, “I imagine it does suck, but I would have done it for you.”

“Been a lesbian with me?” Jensen asks jokingly.

“No, dumbass; gone away with you. If Alpha hadn’t given me the order, and if I hadn’t bitten you, I’d have left the pack for you if you asked. We couldn’t have truly mated, but I would’ve done it.”

“Well it might be selfish of me, but I’m glad that you didn’t. I want my baby to have both of us in his genes.”

“Wasn’t the tune you sang at first.”

“That was because you and Alpha were being high handed dominant morons. You needed to be taken down a few pegs. Mating though? I wanted to mate with you as soon as I finished changing. Practically forced myself to act on my anger and toss your deceiving ass outside instead of rolling over and begging you to fuck me.”

“You never told me that before.” Jared tells him as he rubs his fingers against the barely there swell of their unborn child.

“Didn’t want you to get an ego about it. Now I’m all knocked up and gooey though, so I figure that it’s obvious enough how I feel about you.”

Jared laughs and presses a kiss on his mate’s head before reaching for the remote. There has to be some sort of bad movie on television that they can sit and mock while they cuddle.

What’s on the screen when it clicks on though isn’t a bad sitcom or overwrought drama. It’s a breaking news story:

“Authorities found the missing RV hundreds of miles from where it was originally stolen more than twenty years ago. A hiker attempting to observe the local wolf population had ventured off the beaten path and stumbled upon the abandoned vehicle covered in moss and weeds and surrounded by trees that had grown up around it.”

“What makes this story remarkable is not that the stolen vehicle was found so far into a forest. It’s not even that the vehicle was found so far from its original location so many years later. What makes this story special is that it’s giving authorities their first clue in over two decades into the kidnapping of Jensen Ackles, the son of the wealthy Ackles family of Texas.”

“While the police caution about any false hopes being raised, the family is optimistic that this might finally give them closure over the loss of their beloved son and brother.”

“In a statement released through the family lawyer, the Ackles’ expressed their desire to find out what happened to their freckle faced little boy, and ask that if anybody in the area has any information that might lead to his recovery – dead or alive – that they step forward and help end the family’s decades old search.”

“For Channel Five News, I’m Kelly Hargrove.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

END


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